Las Vegas loves them and California's trying to outlaw them: digital billboards.
Today, I was talking about digital billboards with Chris Jennewein, senior vice president and publisher at Greenspun Interactive, responsible for the Las Vegas Sun and Las Vegas Weekly website properties, among others.
Jennewein, who led SignonSanDiego.com several re-organizations ago, is now leading multiple news sites in one of the communities hardest hit by the real estate bubble. While the San Diego Union-Tribune continues its slow hari kari, Jennewein is glad to have found Greenspun and be building something up rather than tearing it down. (Yes, there have been some layoffs over the past 10 months, but nothing like what's happening at San Diego's daily and its web properties.)
So, this brings me around to the digital billboards. As the LasVegasSun.com looked at its advertising options a few months ago, it was also looking at its bottom line. It focused on digital billboards as a good value, but also as a medium that would catch Las Vegas residents during their daily commute rituals.
Then the LasVegasSun.com took it one farther and asked the billboard owners if they could change the electronic display daily? Yes, they could. Well, if we could change the display once a day, how about four times a day? Yes, I guess, if that's what they really wanted, they could do that too.
Now, four times a day, the website's 25 character news headlines are broadcast on billboards around the city.
The site gets the branding value but it also gets the benefit of a direct response mechanism in that consumers can take immediate action and log in to read more when they're at their desk.
An interesting example of a news organization interacting with and engaging its readers. It might only work in Vegas, but before California's state legislators get fired up about the evils of digital billboards, they should pause to balance that against the good that news organizations and other advertisers do. And then they should consider whether their bazillion cardboard campaign signs at intersections are a worse blight and distraction!
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